Columnist Joe Delaney: If it’s not magic, it’s impressionists on LV stages

Joe Delaney

Friday, May 5, 2000 | 9:09 a.m.

Joe Delaney's column appears Thursdays and Fridays. Reach him at joe@ lasvegassun.com or 259-4066.

Magic, the illusionary art, continues to dominate the LV entertainment scene with impressionists and tribute shows a very close second ... The Mirage currently has the best of both art forms with superstars of magic Siegfried & Roy in one custom-built theater and master impressionist Danny Gans in the other ... Siegfried & Roy were the catalysts who took magic from a 20-minute act to a hit production show.

There are times when magicians David Copperfield (Caesars Palace) and Penn & Teller (MGM Grand) could also be starring here ... Lance Burton has his own theater at the Monte Carlo.

Steve Wyrick, who survived at the Lady Luck for two years, now has a theater being built for him at the Sahara ... "The Illusionary Magic of Rick Thomas" is racking up afternoon numbers that equal the evening counts of the "Folies Bergere" (Tropicana).

More magic

Caesars Magical Empire offers an evening of magic and laughs plus an excellent dinner, but its days are numbered along with those of the hotel's Circus Maximus showroom ... Comedy magician Mac King has had his Harrah's afternoon show renewed for three years ... Dixie Dooley salutes the great Houdini (Plaza), and Darren Romeo combines magic with singing and impressions, afternoons at the Flamingo Las Vegas.

More impressionists

In addition to Gans, there's Bill Acosta's "Lasting Impressions" (Luxor) and Andre-Philippe Gagnon (Venetian) plus shows such as "Honky Tonk Angels" (Gold Coast) saluting Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire and the Judds ... "Legends in Concert" (Imperial Palace) and "American Superstars" (Stratosphere) are other tribute shows ... Carbons of top stars are also included in "Splash" (Riviera).

Conspicuous by his absence here is Rich Little, the first successful LV headliner as an impressionist, especially in a presidential election year ... Little did open the door for Gans and the others.

It should also be noted that there are also magic acts in some of the production shows, but no impressionists.

Two recent books

"Trumpet Blues," based upon the life of the great trumpeter Harry James, written by jazz authority Peter J. Levinson, is one of the best written and most thoroughly researched biographies of a major popular music figure ... Where most musical biographies are more myth than substance, Levinson's tome, published by Oxford University Press, rings true.

Mel Weiser's book, "Nick Nolte, Caught in the Act," published by Momentum Books Ltd., is another "warts and all" recounting of an actor and his inner torments, concentrating on the making of the film, "Jefferson In Paris," where Weiser spent more than a year working closely with Nolte.

Also recommended

Friday's Jazz at Pogo's led by Irv Kluger; the Joe Lano Trio (Paris Las Vegas); the Mike Breene Trio (Santa Fe); Marv Koral's All-Stars featuring Carl Fontana, Sundays (Pierce Street Annex); Don Menza, Mondays (Riviera) and two jazz groups in concert Monday at 7:30 p.m. in the Horn Theatre on the Cheyenne Campus of Community College of Southern Nevada ... See you next Thursday.